Recently, educational methods using robots have been proposed. For example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No 2001-242780 discloses a humanoid robot educating a learner (user) as a teacher.
Learners are sometimes inspired and more motivated for learning through communication with other students besides communication with teachers. For example, learners may be more motivated for learning through competition with other students or when encouraged by other students.
Even with the humanoid robot of the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No 2001-242780, a learner cannot have communication with other students in a circumstance where there are no other students (for example, at home). Therefore, the effect of increasing the motivation of a learner for learning is low.
Particularly, when a learner is an infant or child, it is said that the learner feels pressure in a learning circumstance where a learner and a teacher sit face to face.